Finding "The Son of " Mijo Greguric and
the Gregorich Family Tree

(a little history before we get started)

I
started tracing my family tree thru several relatives who started the work as
well as the vast number of online genealogy websites. The free areas of the
genealogy websites as proven to be of some help. But I recommend if you really
want to research your family tree in greater detail to sign up for the paid
areas of the genealogy websites such as Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.com.
Also, buying the software is a big help in keeping all the data together and
organized. Anyway, lets get started.

My Great-Grandfather, Mijo Greguric came to America from
Croatia during the late 1800's. Finding history of the Greguric family tree has been difficult.
Although records of the Croatian people exist, tracing history over several centuries of
turmoil and the lack of a single written language presented a problem in finding family
records. But sometimes it is better to be lucky than smart. The "ic" or
"ich" in a Croatian name means son of (or clan of) and with this clue it has
been possible to relate the Greguric, Gregorich and Gregory name back to the year 1080.

The origins of the Croatian name can be traced to Iran.
The Croatian
people then called HRVATS (a name still used today) migrated through the Ukraine and
arrived in the Balkans at the beginning of the 7th Century.

Soon after their arrival in the Balkans they were evangelized into
and accepted Christianity, but this area had already been split into the Eastern and
Western Catholic Churches. Those who migrated to the Southern Balkan region fell under the
Byzantine Church. Those Croatians who settled in the north came under the influence of the
Pope and Catholic Church in Rome. During the next several centuries the region came under
the political control and domination of various European powers including Venice (Italy),
Austria, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

Gradually outside domination weakened and the Balkan Regions took on
their own identity and formed their own kingdoms. Those in the North became known as The
Kingdoms of Croatia and Slovenia. Both of these countries remained fiercely loyal to the
Roman Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome. "HRVATS" in the South became the
Kingdoms of Serbia and Bosnia. The Serb's stayed loyal to the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine
Church with the Bosnian's remaining loyal to the Islamic faith of their old rulers the
Ottoman Turks.

Family tree records were kept by the local Parish of the Catholic Church.
Church records were written in many languages and reflect the historic turmoil of the
region. Records in a single Parish might be written in Italian, Latin. Croatian or
Hungarian. Place names could be very difficult to identify because of this diversity. In
addition to language changes, villages changed names and spellings changed.

Croatia formalized their alphabet in approximately 1850 with the use
of a diacritical-accent mark system. Croatian's coming to America based on circumstance of
where they were from in Croatia had their names modified on their passports. A person's
name could have been modified to the Austrian, Hungarian or Italian language. Then on
arrival in America U.S. authorities would change a name to conform to English.

Many Croatians also had clan names. A name ending in "ich"
or "vich" or something similar meant "Son of". Some immigrants used
their clan name as more easily pronounced in America. For example the name GRGURIC found
in Parish ZAKANJE records could have been GREGURIC on a passport, then changed to
GREGORICH by US authorities. By the next generation either by accident or some other
reason the name became GREGORY.

Here it should be noted the original Croatian name GRGURIC meant Son
of GREGORY. In the 1080's Pope GREGORY VII crowned DIMITRIJE ZVONMIR King of Croatia.
Peasant's with out any further identity probably took on the name for protection and to
indicate they were followers of Pope Gregory.

Croatia is presently in the process of collecting and cataloging all
historical records. As of 1945 all birth, death and marriage records held by churches were
turned over to the Civil Authorities and deposited in the Opcina or City Hall. Parish
records of churches in small villages without a City Hall went to the closest village or
town with a Town Hall. Some day soon, with a little difficulty and a lot of luck we may be
able to trace Croatian family tree history back generation by generation.